Protecting Each Other
by darkxwolfxdemon
Summary: One-shot. Allen is bady hurt during a mission and Lavi can't help but blame himself. Rated T for a few swear words and boys kissing


_**Lavi:**__What the…? I thought you were meant to be finishing 'Sick Moyashis and Doctor Usagis'??_

_**Wolf:**__Yeah, I know I'm sorry I've nearly finished writing that, but then this story hit me while I was watching YouTube and would NOT leave me alone until I wrote it. ^_^"_

_**Lavi:**__ Pfft…we've been waiting for you to finish that story for how long? And then you decide to go write this one?_

_**Wolf:**__ Oh shut up you! A few more days isn't going to hurt anyone…I hope =S_

_Anyways, hope you like this one people ^_^_

_**Lavi:**__ Wolf still doesn't own -man and probably never will =)_

_**Wolf:**__*Grumbles to self*_

* * *

"Hold on Allen! Just hold on! We're nearly there!"

My yells fell on deaf ears as I dragged the half-conscious Allen Walker towards the steep cliff sides we'd passed earlier that day. Or was it yesterday? I didn't know.

Everything had happened so damn quickly, even my Bookman trained mind had had trouble keeping up. All I knew was that Allen was hurt, badly, and I needed to get him somewhere that wasn't completely soaked from the heavy rain that had gotten progressively worse since the attack.

"Come on Allen, I can see the cave now. Just hold on a little longer, okay?"

Never before had I been so glad about being observant. Who knows where we could have gone if I hadn't noticed the small gap in the cliff side.

I continued to haul the smaller body through the rain, praying that I wasn't too late to treat him. It was my fault. My fault he was hurt. If I'd just been paying more attention to what was going on around me…

I shook my head. Now was not the time to feel guilty about passed actions. Right now, I had to concentrate on getting Allen to safety. After that…we'd have to play by ear.

After what seemed like hours, although I knew it was only a few minuets, I finally reached the cave, if it could be called that. It was more like a mere crack in the cliff's surface, barley three metres deep and a metre and a half wide. But it was enough. It was enough to shelter us from the wind and rain and hide us from those god-forsaken akuma.

As carefully as I could, I laid the white haired exorcist on the dirty ground, gently rolling him onto his front and making sure his face was to the side to allow him to breathe.

It was not good.

The gash went from his left hip, to his right shoulder; the result of my so-called 'brilliant observation skills', so brilliant that I hadn't even seen that bloody akuma creep up on me.

But Allen had. And he'd paid the price.

I wanted to look away, I wanted to shut my eye and block out the entire scene playing again in my mind, I wanted to curl up in a corner and pretend that nothing had happened. But I couldn't.

Allen needed me. The one person in my life who I cared about more than my own was hurt because of me. I got him into this mess, and I'd be damned if I didn't get him out again in one piece.

I forced myself to look at the wound.

The deepest part was probably about an inch deep near the top of his shoulder. Part of me realised that it was a lucky thing. At least I knew that his vital organs hadn't been touched. But it still needed cleaning and stitching, and I had nothing to do either with. Not even a bottle of alcohol to clean it.

All I could really do was bandage it up to stop the bleeding, and hope for the best.

"Allen? Allen, can you hear me?" I called, leaning over the other's face, tapping it lightly to try to raise him. If I wanted to bandage his back properly, I would need him to be sitting up, preferably conscious.

"Allen? Com'on moyashi, don't give up on me yet."

To my relief, I saw his silver eyes flutter open.

"L-La…vi?" he croaked, giving me a dazed and confused look.

I smiled gently back.

"Hey, baka moyashi. Glad you decided to join me."

"Nurgh…it's Allen, baka usagi."

I chuckled and ran my fingers through his wet hair.

"Com'on, I need you to sit up for me." I said gently, trying to coax him into a sitting position.

He gave me another confused look for a moment before realising what I wanted him to do. He started to push himself up too quickly before I could stop him and fell down again, grimacing in pain.

"Allen!?"

I started to put my hands under his arms to try to pull him up myself, but he waved me off.

"…'m fine. Just, hurts, a bit. Give me a sec…" he said through gritted teeth.

I sat ready to catch him if he fell again, but this time he took his time to push himself onto his knees, although I could see he was in pain.

He rested his head on my shoulder as I began to remove his coat and shirt, doing my best not to move him, but I could still feel him grimace when I pulled his coat's sleeves from his arms.

"Lavi," he said, as I started to unbutton his shirt. Normally I'd enjoy taking his cloths off, but those kind of thoughts were the furthest from my mind right now.

"Hmm?" I replied to let him know I was listening.

His breath hitched as I began to remove his shirt, the fabric rubbing on his wound. I bit my lip trying to remind myself that this was for his own good.

"Where are the others? Are they alright?"

I could have laughed if I wasn't concentrating so much about getting his shirt off without hurting him. Only he would worry about other people when he himself was nearly cut in two less than an hour ago.

"They're still back in the clearing. Don't worry Allen, they'll be fine. I'll contact them once I've sorted you out."

I finally got him out of the shirt and began ripping the ruined material onto shreds to make makeshift bandages.

"And what about you?" he asked, lifting his head up slightly to look me in the face.

I fumbled with my shredding.

Why was he asking me that? It's my fault he's hurting, yet he's the one asking me if _I'm_ all right.

I shook my head, but I couldn't stop the scene playing out again in my mind.

A simple mission. That's what it was meant to be. Go check out a small cabin in a forest on our way back from an earlier mission, before heading back to head quarters.

The simple mission had turned into an ambush.

We'd only had a few seconds notice thanks to Allen's eye, before the cabin we were in was shattered around us and we were once again fighting for our lives.

Ten level 3s, about a hundred level 2s and an uncountable amount of level 1s had been sent to destroy us.

Kanda and Allen had immediately set off towards the level 3s, leaving Lenalee and myself to deal with the level 2s and 1s.

I thought it had been going well, a hundred or so level 1s and 2s had gone up in flames while Lenalee attacked the ones that had somehow managed to dodge.

It had been too easy, or so I had thought.

I'd been concentrating on a level 2 who would just not damn well die. The shitty thing kept on dodging all my attacks while singing childish songs, just to annoy me.

"Hold still, damn it!!" I yelled while swinging my hammer at it.

It cackled as it danced away from my weapon.

"Aww! What's the matter little exorcist? Can't hit me? Am I too fast for you? You should go back to playing in the mud where you belong little exorcist! Ah ha ha!!"

The thing was really getting on my nerves.

I continued to swing my hammer at it, completely forgetting about the other monstrosities around me.

It dodged me again as I attacked this time from above.

"Ah ha ha ha!! Stupid little exorcist! You can't even hit me! You're so-ARRGH!!"

I never found out what I was. As I hit the ground, I unlocked the fire seal, sending the evil sod up in flames.

"Ha! Up yours you son of a-"

"LAVI!!"

It all happened so fast.

One moment I was grinning at the flames in front of me, the next, I was face-down on the floor with something warm and heavy on my back.

"What the-?"

"Lavi! Allen-kun!" I heard Lenalee scream.

Allen? No please, don't let it be…

"Baka usagi! Get your ass off the ground and get the moyashi the hell out of here!" came Kanda's voice from just behind me.

I didn't need telling twice.

Rolling over, I grabbed the white haired exorcist and made a run for it, not even knowing if he was still breathing. Only after I'd brought down six more akumas and had cleared the way towards the cliffs did I look down at him to reassure myself that I wasn't holding a corps.

"Lavi?"

I opened my green eye to see a pair of worried silver looking at me. We were both sitting infront of each other in the cave, the rain was still coming down hard outside. I tried to grin.

"I'm fine, Allen. Don't worry."

Said exorcist wasn't convinced. He frowned at me.

"No, you're not." He said, cupping my face with his left hand. Normally, he avoided touching me with that hand, but I guess that his right shoulder was hurting too much to move.

"You're blaming yourself for this Lavi, I can tell."

Crap. When the hell did he learn how to read me so well?

I tried to look away from his piercing gaze, but his hand held my face in place.

"It's not your fault, Lavi. Please don't think otherwise."

Not my fault? How could he say that?

"If I'd been paying more attention to what was going on around me, you wouldn't have-"

I was cut off by a finger on my lips.

"If you weren't paying full attention to that akuma, it would have killed you in a heartbeat. I saw how it kept dodging your attacks; it was enough to keep anyone occupied. Even Kanda noticed. Why else do you think we were staying so close to you? So we could bring down any akuma who got too close to you."

He was smiling gently as he spoke, but I still felt bad.

"But why did you...why couldn't you have…"

He removed his finger to let me speak, but I couldn't seem to get the words out.

Somehow, he understood my unasked question.

_Why did you put yourself in front of that attack?_

"The akuma was too close to you to destroy it. The explosion would have probably killed you as well, so I pushed you away while Lenalee took care of the akuma, only I obviously didn't push you far enough. Hence why I got hit, my cloak must have lifted up in the explosion."

I had been thinking about that. How could Allen possibly get hurt if his Innocence was protecting him?

I looked at his smiling face. I could tell that he didn't regret what he did, and he never would. He'd probably do the same thing again if he had to.

"Baka moyashi," I said pulling him gently towards me, careful of his wound, "Don't go putting yourself in more danger than necessary, especially for me."

I felt him hit me lightly for the moyashi comment, then used the same limb to pull me closer. I couldn't stop myself from smiling a bit.

"All the more reason to put myself in danger, if it means protecting you." He said. "Besides," he continued before I could say anything, "Who was the one who ended up in hospital back in Spain because he was protecting me? Hmm?"

I flushed slightly at the memory.

"That's different, I'm allowed to, you're not."

"Pfft…yeah right. Keep dreaming baka."

I shook my head.

"Remind me again why I had to fall for the most stubborn assed brat on this side of the planet?"

Allen laughed.

"Don't know. You'd best ask the seconded most stubborn arsed brat – no wait, make that the third. I think BaKanda deserves second place, not you."

I had to laugh.

We were both as bad as each other. We would always risk our lives for each other in any type of situation, whether the other wanted it or not.

"I love you, Allen." I whispered, kissing the pentacle on his forehead.

His smile broadened.

"I love you too, Lavi." Then he leaned forward and kissed my lips.

It took me a while to bandage his back properly. Even after tearing up Allen's shirt, I ended up tearing up my own to be able to finish the job.

Once that was done, the rain had finally subsided, and I was able to get in contact with Lenalee and Yû.

"Are you sure you're both okay?" came Lenalee's worried voice from the gollum.

"Yup, we're both hunky-dory, although I think Allen-chan needs stitching up. He's falling apart at the steams here."

The hit on the head from Allen and the "Tch, idiot." from Yû made me grin.

"Com'on Allen, let's get back before Yû-chan throws a hissy fit." I said.

"What did you ca-" Both of us chuckled at Kanda's furious reply being cut off.

"Lavi, I can walk you know." Said Allen as I knelt down so he could climb on.

"Maybe, but this way I've got an excuse to hold you." I replied, grinning cheekily at him.

He couldn't argue with that, so he pulled himself onto my back, wrapping his arms and legs around me. Once he was secure, I stood up and began to make my way back towards Lenalee and Yû.

"You do realise Lenalee is gonna have such a go at you for being so reckless once you're better?" I said to the boy on my back. I heard him grunt into my neck.

"Urgh, don't remind me. I can already feel the punch to my face."

I chuckled.

"Don't worry Allen-chan, I'll protect you."

_And I always will, just like you protect me._

* * *

_**Wolf:**__Whoop! Done! ^_^ Sorry if it's no good. The plot just hit me yesterday. I'm not too sure about the ending. Seems to be a bit cheesey to be honest =S please review and tell me what you think. Thanks ^_^_


End file.
